Tag: Recreation

Celebrating Seniors in Ontario — Stay Safe, Stay in Touch

Posted on by Reagan Morgan
June is Seniors’ Month! Make sure you Stay Safe, Stay in Touch

In Ontario, the month of June is considered Seniors’ Month and is a time to reflect and celebrate all seniors from across the province. This year’s theme is “Stay Safe, Stay in Touch” and it focuses on keeping our seniors safe, connected, and engaged at their home during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the Minister for Seniors and Accessibility Raymond Cho “As we take this opportunity to mark Seniors’ Month, we recognize that these are very challenging times for seniors as they continue to self-isolate due to the risk of COVID-19. Now more than ever, it is important that we come together to support our seniors and recognize and honour the knowledge, experience, and the contributions that seniors have made to build the province that we enjoy today.”

Let us make this month extra special for our seniors by showing them as much support and love as possible. If you have a senior in your life, or if you want to help out voluntarily, please take the time to reach out to them to ensure that they have what they need during this very difficult time. There are plenty of things you can do to stay in touch with seniors, you can give them a call over the phone or through FaceTime or Zoom, you could pick up some groceries for them so they can stock up their refrigerators’ so they have food, or you could safely see them through a window while visiting. Anything that you do to help or connect with a senior will increase their level of happiness, especially since most of them cannot leave their home due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Ontario Government has the highest regard for our seniors and they are committed to protecting and supporting them as much as possible. According to Raymond Cho “We are continuing to invest in almost 300 Seniors Active Living Centres which help seniors remain active and engaged in age-friendly communities.” Cho said that 175 of these programs are currently being offered remotely through teleconference, online videos, and one on one phone calls. These are all critical programs that help seniors stay connection while being at home. The Ontario Government also invested $11 million dollars to implement the Ontario Community Support Program, which is used to help coordinate meals, medicine, and other necessities to seniors across the province. Not only that, but the Ontario government is also developing a comprehensive Seniors’ Strategy which helps seniors remain healthy, active, and socially engaged during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As you can see, the Ontario Government is doing a lot to support seniors during this most difficult time, and since June is Seniors’ Month, we should all be doing our part by reaching out to our seniors as well. At Bay Haven Care Community, the Recreation team conducts and designs programs that help stimulate seniors emotional, intellectual, physical, vocational, social, spiritual, and environmental well-beings to benefit the seniors lifestyle. This month, let’s stay safe and stay in touch together as we help our seniors cope through this pandemic lockdown.

Marco Sanfilippo
Marketing Specialist/Recreation Assistant

Share The Love Week – Valentine’s Day at Bay Haven 2020

Posted on by Reagan Morgan
The final collage from the Valentine’s Day Love Photo marketing event

The entire Recreation Department and Marco, the Marketing Specialist, worked hard to create a two-week long Valentine’s Day event for the residents at Bay Haven Care Community. The Recreation Department organized Valentine’s Day themed programs throughout the first and second week of February. Some of the programs included creating a Valentine’s Day posters, arts and crafts, trivia, drama performances, and even making heart-shaped Topper’s pizza with Emaan, a new volunteer who owns all of the Topper’s Pizza in Canada with her family.

This year, Bay Haven Care Community and the Georgian Tringle Humane Society collaborated on a Valentine’s Day idea to raise money for the Humane Society. The Recreation Department created two program that allowed the residents on the retirement home and the nursing home side to bake and decorate Valentine’s Day themed cupcakes. These cupcakes were then sold on Wednesday, February 5th to all residents, staff, and guests at Bay Haven. On that day, we had two volunteers from the Therapeutic Paws of Canada bring in their dogs to help celebrate our bake sale! Virginia brought in her dog Poodle Enzo, and Alex brought in her Golden Retriever Georgia. The residents absolutely loved buying cupcakes and having a dog visit. Bay Haven Care Community raised $183.00 during the bake sale, with all proceeds going to the Georgian Triangle Humane Society.

Throughout the two weeks of February, Marco created a campaign titled “Valentine’s Day Love Photo.” This campaign allowed family members of residents and staff to submit a photo of their loved ones and to add a short description about why you love them, and what kind of inspiration that particular person gave you throughout your life. Since February 1st, Marco has been posting a new submitted photo on the Bay Haven Care Community Facebook page until Valentine’s Day. The marketing campaign was a huge success! The campaign generated 14 new “Likes” for the Bay Haven Care Community Facebook page, which is a 250% increase since January 17th, 2020. The campaign also got a 79% increase in “Post Engagement,” meaning there were more people commenting and liking our Facebook pictures and posts during this week than any other. After the campaign was over, Marco created a collage of everyone’s pictures and posted them on Facebook, as well as around the building.

Overall, Bay Haven’s 2020 Valentine’s Day was very successful and we are excited to continue providing the best quality care for all of our residents.

Marco Sanfilippo
Marketing Specialist/Recreation Assistant

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream For Ice Cream

Posted on by Reagan Morgan
Bay Haven Care Community Residents Enjoying Their Ice Cream.

Let’s Go On An Excursion!

Posted on by Reagan Morgan
Bay Haven staff and volunteers taking residents on an excursion to Sunset Point.

Excursions are an important part of Bay Haven’s culture and programs. The Bay Haven Excursions Committee Members organizes excursions with residents in order to provide the best outing for them throughout the entire year.  The Bay Haven Excursions Committee is comprised with the Chairman – Scott Strandholt, the Treasurer/Secretary – Cynthia Landriault, the Recreation Manager – April Lawson, and a mix of three volunteer Bay Haven resident representatives from the Retirement Home and the Nursing Home side.

The Excursion Committee meet every six months. Sometimes the committee meets more often, depending on the Chairs request. At these meetings, the committee members gather in the Bay Haven conference room and discuss and review all the excursions that have occurred, the ones that are upcoming, those that have been suggested, and then proceed to discuss all of the excursion related questions as they arise during the meeting. In the latest meeting, some of the residents suggested different possible outing ideas, such as attending vineyards, local breweries, apple orchards, strawberry picking, and more. It is great to be able to discuss these topics and ideas with our residents at these meetings since they provide us with great ideas for future outings. The Treasurer also gives out an updated report of the budget and funding that is provided for these excursions. Everyone’s role in the committee is important, and their hard work and commitment in keeping the Bay Haven excursions strong is great for the future for Bay Haven.

The Excursion Committee are kindly encouraging people to make donations to ensure that residents continue to enjoy our monthly outings. The money that will be donated will go towards everything related to our excursions, including the funds needed to pay for the Red Cross Bus to transport our residents to their destination. To donate, visit our website and click the Donation tab to see how to donate.

With your help, we will be able to continue our excursion programs with our residents in the future.

Let’s go on an excursion!

Marco Sanfilippo – Marketing Specialist/Recreation Assistant.

Bay Haven Care Community Celebrates Staff Appreciation Week

Posted on by Reagan Morgan
A resident mingles with some Bay Haven staff members during Staff Appreciation Week.

This year, Bay Haven Care Community celebrated Staff Appreciation Week from Friday, May 3rd to Friday, May 10th. Our staff provide activities of daily living in a professional and dignified manner. Bay Haven recognizes all of the tremendous hard work that come from the nurses, volunteers, dietary staff, recreation team, office workers, maintenance staff, and cleaners. Bay Haven wanted to celebrate Staff Appreciation Week by providing all staff members with Tim Hortons coffee, Timbits, fresh baked cookies and bagels from the dietary team, and a key chain!

The entire staff at Bay Haven Care Community works hard to make sure the entire home runs smoothly, properly, and safely. “Your hard work and dedication is appreciated and does not go unnoticed.” Scott says as he talks about Staff Appreciation Week, “Bay Haven recognizes staff throughout the year with BBQ’s, snacks, and other treats.” Later this year, Bay Haven will be hosting a Staff Appreciation barbeque lunch held by our dietary manager Donna. Donna prepares a variety of food for our Staff Appreciation barbeque, including hamburgers, sausages, salads, fruit, and more. The barbeque is normally from 11:00 AM — 1:00 PM to accommodate all staff members shifts. We will let you know more information closer to our selective date.

Once again, Bay Haven Care Community would like to thank all of their hard-working staff members for doing such an incredible job at making Bay Haven Care Community the best retirement and nursing home in Collingwood. It takes teamwork, dedication, and loyalty from staff members to come together to produce excellent results. Bay Haven does this, and we are proud.

“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” — Helen Keller.

Marco Sanfilippo — Marketing Specialist/Recreation Assistant.

What is Snoezelen? A Breakdown of Snoezelen and Its Sensory Impact

Posted on by Reagan Morgan
  • A resident rediscovering her senses through the Snoezelen program.

Snoezelen is a form of non-directive therapy used for our sensory stimulation programs for residents who have cognitive dissonance. Discovered in the 1970’s by two Dutch therapists named Jan Hulsegge and Ad Verheul, their goal was to successfully increase enjoyment and relaxation by developing a new sensory experience for those with cognitive dissonance. The experiment was successful and received positive responses from both verbal and non-verbal patients.

The way to properly make a Snoezelen program work, a resident must be in a soothing and stimulating environment. The Snoezelen room is usually dark and contains lighting effects, colour, scent, sounds, texture, and music. Bay Haven has sensory equipment specifically designed to stimulate various senses to the residents. The residents at Bay Haven love our sensory music, videos, 1.5 metre Bubble Tube, and our cascade of fibre optics!

An advantage of Snoezelen therapy is that it does not rely heavily on verbal communication and it is extremely beneficial for people with autism, as well as others who are not so cognitive. The beautiful aspect of Snoezelen is that it provides stimulation to those that found it mentally impossible to reach before. Snoezelen allows residents to reach those previously unattainable goals.

The Snoezelen environment and various equipment are effective because they implement the relaxation process, reducing residents’ physical and emotional anxiety, and pain. It aims to maximize a person’s potential to focus on his or her own self and to engage a motivational stimulus through objects or activities, ultimately improving their communication, functioning, and learning capabilities. All these beneficial factors are extraordinarily healthy for the residents, and that is exactly what Bay Haven wants to strive for.

Some of the most rewarding aspects for implementing Snoezelen at Bay Haven is that we get to witness residents who are not cognitive improving their overall senses, touch, and attentiveness. It is always nice to see improvement with our residents because that is the kind of high-quality care that we practice daily.

Bay Haven’s sensory stimulation program offers a great amount of sensory resources for our residents, and in order to provide the best quality care possible, we will continue to practice and improve on Snoezelen in order to provide the most satisfying and healthy results for our residents.

Marco Sanfilippo — Marketing Specialist/Recreation Assistant

The 4 Things That I Learned On My First Week As A Recreation Assistant

Posted on by Reagan Morgan
A Recreation Assistant interacting with a resident.

I am always astonished to see how influential recreation activities can keep residents engaged. As someone who has recently joined the recreation team at Bay Haven Care Community, I am already beginning to see how activities such as Bingo, happy hour, musical performances, outings, and trivia games can enhance a resident’s overall experience at their retirement home. As a Recreation Assistant, it is my job to make residents happy and to enhance their quality of life as much as possible.

Here are 4 things I learned on my first week as a Recreation Assistant.

1. Interaction.

It is always important to keep this in mind as you provide your recreation activity. If you are providing a program for a group of 20 residents, it is important to always interact with each person individually as much as possible. You always want the residents to know that they are a crucial part of the activity that you are providing for them. The more interactive you are, the better.

2. Follow the 7 Dimensions of Well-being.

The seven dimensions of well-being is a holistic approach to programming that Bay Haven ensures to provide for their residents. The seven steps are:

  1. Emotional: Coping with challenges and behaving in a trustworthy and respectful way. This creates emotional wellness and helps counsel stress, management, humour/laughter and personal stories.
  2. Intellectual: Providing creative pursuits and intellectually stimulating activities is proven to keep minds alert and interested and it can slow down the process of Alzheimer’s and Dementia.
  3. Physical: If you provide a physical program throughout the day, residents will feel better emotionally, as they will be releasing “feel good” endorphins from their body.
  4. Vocational: It is important for everyone to have a purpose and feel needed with a specific goal in mind. This step is a great way for residents to be connected with the community!
  5. Social: Social interactions with family, friends, and co-residents can be valuable to maintain good health for the residents.
  6. Spiritual: Residents at Bay Haven can practice their own religious morals and faith. Living with a meaning and purpose of life is key to feeling a connection to the larger world.
  7. Environmental: It is important for everyone to get outside whenever possible. If the weather is bad, we will bring the environmental programs inside.

These seven steps are a crucial part of being a Recreation Assistant. In order to provide life enrichment to all of our residents, a Recreation Assistant must always keep these seven steps in mind.

3. Create a variety of programs.

It is important to provide a variety of programs for the retirement home you are working for. Repetitive programs will make the residents lose interest. A variety of creative and interactive programs will be beneficial for the overall experience as a Recreation Assistant. Doing this will also alter the experience for your residents, making them happier and more interested in their daily activities. Always remember, keep an open-mind, use your creativity, and have fun!

4. Have fun and be patient.

Two of the most important steps of becoming a great Recreation Assistant is to make sure you always have fun, and to be patient. The beautiful part of this job is that you get to have fun with the residents! The variety of games, performances, activities and events that you will be hosting for the residents are enjoyable! However, you must be patient as well. The number one rule that every Recreation Assistant must know is that the residents always come first. If they need to do something urgent in the middle of your program, simply allow them to go. This is their home and their life; always understand that.

These are 4 things that I learned on my first week as a Recreation Assistant.

Marco Sanfilippo — Recreation Assistant/Marketing Specialist